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Russian Foreign Ministry comments on the conclusion of Canada’s Arctic Council Chairmanship

On April 27th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation released his official comments on the recently concluded Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, which was attended by Sergei Donskoi, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation.

Honorable Sergey Lavrov recalled the long-standing commitment of the Arctic Council to maintain peace, stability and constructive cooperation in the Arctic, reaffirmed once again in the recently adopted Iqualuit Declaration. Nevertheless, the Ministry used the occasion to complain about Canada's" attempts to add unrelated matters to the Arctic Council's agenda, to politicise discussions, and to make decisions on Arctic cooperation issues dependent on these unrelated matters have not promoted cooperation".

Here the press release:

Foreign Ministry comment on the conclusion of Canada's Arctic Council Chairmanship

The Ninth Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council was held in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada on April 24. The Russian delegation was led by Sergei Donskoi, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.At the meeting, the ministers signed the Iqaluit Declaration reaffirming the commitment to maintain peace, stability and constructive cooperation in the Arctic and plans to further strengthen international cooperation. With this goal in mind, the ministers approved a number of documents, including the Framework Plan for Cooperation on Prevention of Oil Pollution from Petroleum and Maritime Activities in the Marine Areas of the Arctic, the Framework for Action on Enhanced Black Carbon and Methane Emissions Reductions, and the Arctic Marine Strategic Plan for the Period 2015-2025.The ministers also established new working groups, including the Task Force on Telecommunications Infrastructure in the Arctic.The meeting marked the conclusion of Canada's Arctic Council Chairmanship and the beginning of the US Chairmanship.Overall, the Arctic countries' cooperation has been developing constructively, but Canada's attempts to add unrelated matters to the Arctic Council's agenda, to politicise discussions, and to make decisions on Arctic cooperation issues dependent on these unrelated matters have not promoted cooperation.This was especially true during the preparations for and the holding of the Iqaluit meeting. However, neither the other Arctic countries nor the Organisation of Arctic Indigenous Peoples supported this policy from Canada and unanimously pointed to the inadmissibility of proposing a confrontational agenda for the Arctic forum.